The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution"Originally published in 1970, when Shulamith Firestone was just twenty-five years old, and going on to become a bestseller, The Dialectic of Sex was the first book of the women's liberation movement to put forth a feminist theory of politics. Beginning with a look at the radical and grassroots history of the first wave (with its foundation in the abolition movement of the time), Firestone documents its major victory, the granting of the vote to women in 1920, and the fifty years of ridicule that followed. She goes on to deftly synthesize the work of Freud, Marx, de Beauvoir, and Engels to create a cogent argument for feminist revolution. Identifying women as a caste, she declares that they must seize the means of reproduction--for as long as women (and only women) are required to bear and rear children, they will be singled out as inferior. Ultimately she presents feminism as the key radical ideology, the missing link between Marx and Freud, uniting their visions of the political and the personal. In the wake of recent headlines bemoaning women's squandered fertility and the ongoing debate over the appropriate role of genetics in the future of humanity, The Dialectic of Sex is revealed as remarkably relevant to today's society--a testament to Shulamith Firestone's startlingly prescient vision. Firestone died in 2012, but her ideas live on through this extraordinary book"--Amazon.com. |
From inside the book
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Page 234
... biology would be to threaten the social unit that is organized around biological reproduction and the subjection of women to their biologi- cal destiny , the family . Our second demand will come also as a basic contradiction to the ...
... biology would be to threaten the social unit that is organized around biological reproduction and the subjection of women to their biologi- cal destiny , the family . Our second demand will come also as a basic contradiction to the ...
Page 248
... biological reproduction and childrearing , leading to unequal division of labor , class based on sex , the power psychology , and other evils , were never severed . The roles of women were enlarged rather than redefined . Women may have ...
... biological reproduction and childrearing , leading to unequal division of labor , class based on sex , the power psychology , and other evils , were never severed . The roles of women were enlarged rather than redefined . Women may have ...
Page 262
... biological reproduction and some degree of division of labor by sex , and thus the traditional depend- encies and resulting power relations , extended over genera- tions ; though the size of the family - in this case , the larger ...
... biological reproduction and some degree of division of labor by sex , and thus the traditional depend- encies and resulting power relations , extended over genera- tions ; though the size of the family - in this case , the larger ...
Contents
THE DIALECTIC OF SEX | 1 |
ON AMERICAN FEMINISM | 16 |
THE MISGUIDED | 46 |
Copyright | |
7 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
achieve adults Aesthetic Mode analysis artificial artist attempt basic become biological family black woman century chil child childhood childrearing class system created cultural cultural revolution cybernation demands dialectic DIALECTIC OF SEX division economic class Electra Complex eliminate emotional Engels eroticism existence experience exploitation father feel female feminine feminist movement Feminist Revolution Freud Freudianism function girl human ideal incest taboo individual kibbutz labor least live male marriage matriarchy modern mother myth nature never nuclear family Oedipus Complex one's oppression organization parents patriarchal perhaps physical play political politicos power psychology problem production psychoanalysis psychology racism radical feminism radical feminist reality relationships repression reproduction revolutionary romanticism seen segregation sex class sexual sexual revolution Simone de Beauvoir social society structure technological tion traditional white woman women and children women's liberation